Digital arrest: How a maze of 5,436 accounts was used to funnel Rs 10.7 crore siphoned from Pune senior citizen

“Based on the detailed analysis of the money trail, we have found out that Rs 10.74 crore that the victim was pressured into sending was routed through 5,436 bank accounts in banks located in over a dozen states. Jadhav has not just played a role in managing the mule accounts but also in converting the siphoned money into USDT. This cryptocurrency ultimately landed in the wallets of the international criminals linked to this scam who are operating from abroad,” said Senior Inspector Swapnali Shinde. Jadhav, who was arrested on August 7, was the fifth cyber criminal to be arrested in the case.

The case relates to an 82-year-old retired businessman from Pune, who was allegedly cheated of Rs 10,74 crore between January 23 and 31. The victim, who had earlier run an assembly unit for food processing machinery, was subjected to an elaborate “digital arrest” by fraudsters posing as officials from various government agencies and even the judiciary.

The fraud began when the victim was contacted by a person posing as an officer of the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India. He was told that his mobile number had been linked to a criminal case and that a bank account connected to the number had figured in a case involving former Jet Airways chairman Naresh Goyal. The fraudsters subsequently posed as CBI officials and told the elderly man, who lives alone, that he was facing criminal proceedings. He was allegedly made to record an affidavit admitting his involvement and was then subjected to a fake online court hearing where a fraudster wearing a black robe posed as a judge.

The fraudster posing as a judge allegedly told him that he could face more than seven years in prison. The victim was also warned not to disclose details of the proceedings to anyone. He was later told that, given his age, a government-appointed lawyer would help him clear his name and was directed to remain on video calls for extended periods. The fraudsters then obtained details of his bank deposits and savings. They allegedly told him to transfer the money to accounts that they claimed belonged to the Reserve Bank of India, saying the transfers were required for “verification”. The victim transferred his savings in seven transactions, believing the money would be returned after verification. He later told his daughter about the proceedings, following which she realised that he had been duped. The family approached the cyber crime police and an FIR was registered.

During the probe, investigators analysed the transactions and found that the victim’s money had moved through a large network of mule accounts. Police said the money was subsequently routed through different accounts, converted into cryptocurrency and withdrawn as cash.

Police had earlier arrested Harshad Subhash Dhantole (26), Samarth Suresh Deshmukh (24), both from Karvenagar in Pune Amar Attargi (24) from Solapur and Pranav Karansingh Arya (31) from Noida. “We have reasons to believe that Jadhav, who has been an influencer on Instagram, came in contact with cyber racketeers a couple of years ago and has since been part of the operation. We have so far been able to freeze Rs 1.34 crore from the fraud money,” Shinde added.

An officer who is part of the probe said the large number of accounts and their geographical spread had made tracing the money particularly difficult. “The operation was highly layered, with the money being split and moved through multiple accounts across different states before being consolidated, converted into cryptocurrency or withdrawn as cash. This geographical spread and the use of several layers of mule accounts create deliberate gaps in the trail and make detection and recovery more difficult. We are now trying to identify the account holders, the handlers operating at each layer and the people controlling the network from outside the country,” the officer said.

“The people operating these layers may not necessarily know each other or the ultimate beneficiary of the money. The funds were moved quickly from one account to another and across states, making it difficult to track the trail in real time. Once the money was converted into USDT and moved to wallets controlled by persons abroad, tracing and recovery became even more challenging. We are examining the role of each account holder and trying to establish who was coordinating these transactions and how the network was connected to the international operators,” the officer added.